Eurovision posters have been set up everywhere around the Greek capital and, as is now customary for the host country, the city hosting the contest has become a truly “Eurovision Nation” – which, incidentally, is also a phrase used by Iceland in their Eurovision entry this year.
This 51st Eurovision Song Contest will be held on Saturday at the OAKA stadium, which is one of the venues used during the Olympic Games in 2004.
The whole area surrounding the venue is impressively huge, but the hall being used as the actual venue for the contest is not too big and is quite similar to the dimensions of the Eurovision venue used in Kyiv last year.
The first rehearsals for the finalists were held yesterday. Of particular importance to us Maltese were two entries: the Maltese song by Fabrizio Faniello and that of Switzerland, with Maltese Keith Camilleri forming part of the group.
Fabrizio will be accompanied on stage by four female dancers/singers and a male backing vocalist. The male backing vocalist, Tony, is the same one who accompanied Sakis Rouvas when he represented Greece, ending in a respectable third place in 2004.
The artistic director of the Maltese entry is the Greek-Cypriot Alex Panayi, who is now participating in his sixth Eurovision Song Contest. Previously Panayi represented Cyprus as a leading singer and he accompanied Elena Paparizou on stage as a backing vocalist last year.
Fabrizio was wearing a very casual look with a cap, jeans and a blue t-shirt. He was also sporting a wrist-band with the Greek flag printed on it.
His performance is quite different to the one he presented on the Maltasong stage. The silhouettes screen and the rolling blinds at the end of the song are all gone now. The choreography has changed completely and, in the words of Alex Panayi himself, it is a “punchy choreography”.
Yesterday’s rehearsals of I Do lasted about 45 minutes.
Nadette Bugeja, PRO of the Maltasong board, said: “We are very satisfied, considering that it was the first day of our rehearsal. We had to do some balancing of the various microphones used by the backing vocalists, as some of them were over-powering the rest. However by the time I Do was performed for the fifth time, an improvement could be noticed.”
Of the same opinion is Norman Hamilton, former chairman of the Maltasong Board. “This was the first time that Fabrizio and his backing team had been on stage. They had to coordinate with the 18 camera-persons, the TV director, sound, lights, producers and the media present in the hall. Tomorrow (today) Fabrizio has another 30 minutes of rehearsals, followed by other three run-throughs in the coming days.
“Everything will be in place on Saturday night.”
It was interesting to note that, during the press conference that followed the rehearsal, Fabrizio revealed that the wrist-band he was wearing during this Eurovision experience was given to him by a Greek Eurovision fan and journalist who was present at the 50th Eurovision Anniversary Concert where Fabrizio was invited to perform part of his 2001 entry Another Summer Night. He said to him: “Wear this wrist-band. Go back home and submit an entry for the Malta Song for Europe. Then you will win and let’s meet in Athens next year”. And sure enough, he did!
In the meantime, Keith Camilleri was on stage at 9.30am yesterday with the other members of Six4One, who are representing Switzerland this year.
What about the fans’ favourites?
It seems that the Greek entry Everything is still leading the way, with many fans humming the tune everywhere around the press centre and the venue.
However, following today’s rehearsals there seem to be other favourites joining the leading pack and these include the ethereal tune Alvendansen from Norway and the country-pop song No, No, Never from Germany.
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